Now once you make a kit having those items, and yes, don't be dumb, get a small bag together and make this kit with band aids, Advil, Benadryl, etc. etc. now we can move on. If you don't make the kit you'll likely forget an item or 2 and that's going to ruin you or cause extreme discomfort.

other misc. items I'd bring not listed from the Survival kit-

A power strip, if you go to a charging station having a power strip could be a lot easier to handle/manage your groups phone and also easier to keep an eye on, people have had their stuff stolen at charging stations, BE CAREFUL

What GEAR do you NEED? Here I have listed what many of us consider to be the essential items in car camping, you can find better deals than this but for those of you traveling I am listing Walmart items so you can buy them and use Site-to-Store pickup and just grab the items and head to the festival.

This list is based off of a group of 4, plan accordingly if you have more/less, etc.

Canopy - it's arguably the most difficult thing to get/bring while traveling but I believe (as well as many others on this board believe) it's the most important item of car camping. If you can't bring it or buy it, then you can't and you will have to make do without it but IT WILL HELP A LOT. There is no shade on the campgrounds and the sun is UP and SHINING and HOT starting at 6am.

Tent- It's nice but not really needed if you have a canopy you can sleep under it in a sleeping bag or cot and you will feel the nice breeze and get sleep w/o a tent, but if you want to "smush" "do sex" as the douchebags from Jersey Shore would say, a tent is pretty crucial for privacy.

Food and snacks- Defintely stock up on snacks, chips, trail mix, fruit and veggies. If you want real food though and to save A LOT of money over the weekend you'll need the next 2 items. Most items at the festival (inside/out) will cost you about $9-$15 an entree, that adds up quick. You're looking at about $120 on basic meals and if you're a big eater like me, it's really expensive.

Cooler - With a decent cooler I suggest buying dry ice, Smart & Final has dry ice, also there is a dry ice place off the 10 freeway not too far from the festival that sells dry ice, I bought DI from them last year and it worked out good, if you are bringing food into the festival keeping them cold is essential and you do not want food poisoning.

Propane Tanks - You can't get them online but they will have them in store, Walmart's have a 2 pack for like... 5 something, about $6 after tax, 2 tanks will last you all weekend long, (unless you have a massive group and you're always using it).

Kitchen - A kitchen set up is awesome. They have folding kitchens and you may want to look into some of the options.

2013 UPDATE!

One situation that has came up much worse than in previous years is the wind was much worse and the weather was much colder than usual. Lower your ez-ups when you leave for the day. If you do not plan on coming back or are not sure if your group will be around I suggest this. I was at camp when the winds really kicked up on day 1 and I saved our camp by lowering everything.

I have to admit though, when it's cold at Coachella life is a lot more bearable and you can travel much lighter didn't even use my mister once last year.

Rain Fly- if you do not have an ez-up over your tent or something covering your tent I would suggest making sure you have a rain fly and make sure you get a tarp to put under your tent.

REMEMBER If the winds kick up, lower your ez up.

I made it a habit that each day I left I lowered my ez up and never had any issues.

2014 update!!!

I would suggest picking up a smaller solar panel just for charging your phone. Everyone should have one at this point.

Re: Coachella 2012 - The Essential Guide To Car Camping

Re: Coachella 2012 - The Essential Guide To Car Camping

Yeah pretty sweet post, thanks! After 5 Coachellas of staying in houses and shitty motels last year was my first time car camping and I absolutely loved it. My only complaint was my tent turning into an unbearable sweat lodge at 7am. Combined with late night partying I think I was only able to sleep about 10 hours in 3 nights combined... I plan on doing it again this year and by reading this and other posts it looks like a tarp attached to a canopy is the best way to get some shade for your tent as so you can sleep in. Anyone have any pictures to post of some of their tarp to canopy contraptions?

Re: Coachella 2012 - The Essential Guide To Car Camping

Originally Posted by DirtyPistol

Yeah pretty sweet post, thanks! After 5 Coachellas of staying in houses and shitty motels last year was my first time car camping and I absolutely loved it. My only complaint was my tent turning into an unbearable sweat lodge at 7am. Combined with late night partying I think I was only able to sleep about 10 hours in 3 nights combined... I plan on doing it again this year and by reading this and other posts it looks like a tarp attached to a canopy is the best way to get some shade for your tent as so you can sleep in. Anyone have any pictures to post of some of their tarp to canopy contraptions?

I'll do a dry run within a month, that will have the canopy and the solar panels and my whole set up but zip ties man. I got reflective tarp from Harbor Freight, http://www.harborfreight.com/9-ft-6-...lin-30874.html use a 20% off coupon and do like 2-3 transactions (means you can use 3 20% off coupons) and zip tie the eye holes in the tarp to the canopy where need be.

Re: Coachella 2012 - The Essential Guide To Car Camping

Love this idea. Thanks Dustin. This is my 3rd Coachella and I always loved coming to one particular thread to pick up some camping tips. You even linked to the Survival Guide which I lurked hard before my first year. Thanks.

Side Note:
Anyone notice that the 2012 Festival Map is up now? I don't remember there being Car Camping behind Lake Eldorado the past two years. If I remember right, that area was reserved for parking. I myself am looking forward to making it into Lot 5 again.

Re: Coachella 2012 - The Essential Guide To Car Camping

Originally Posted by The_Den

Love this idea. Thanks Dustin. This is my 3rd Coachella and I always loved coming to one particular thread to pick up some camping tips. You even linked to the Survival Guide which I lurked hard before my first year. Thanks.

Side Note:
Anyone notice that the 2012 Festival Map is up now? I don't remember there being Car Camping behind Lake Eldorado the past two years. If I remember right, that area was reserved for parking. I myself am looking forward to making it into Lot 5 again.

Re: Coachella 2012 - The Essential Guide To Car Camping

Originally Posted by PrettyToneBK

Finally... what has been said about camping hardware all over countless pages in one neat post. Thanks Dustin.

Yeah I was sick of us repeating ourselves CONSTANTLY and the past 2 years Car Camping has changed so I thought the original camping survival kit needed an update, hopefully this saves a lot of us from retyping everything.

Re: Coachella 2012 - The Essential Guide To Car Camping

Dustin, thank you for putting this together! I remember HOW LONG I spent on the boards last year to find all the same info.

Personally, we brought a lot of food that was pre-cooked and could be eaten cold to avoid having to cook. Things like sandwiches, including cold cuts, egg salad, peanut butter and jelly (make sure it's not in a glass bottle!). Cold pasta salad was good. And then we brough ingredients for fresh guac (Pico de Gallo, Avocados, blend of spices in a ziplock, and lime) and made fresh guac and chips. Then of course we brought a bunch of fresh fruit (apples, bananas, carrots, GRAPES- which cold, were' a HUGE hit) and alcohol fruit (vodka watermelon ice cold in the afternoon was AMAZING. Plus we shared with neighbors and made a ton of friends. We plan to add rum soaked Pineapple this year).

Most of the time it was so hot, we didn't want to put too much effort into making food. I saw a few people making food, but it just seemed way too hot and too much effort. I DID get a Pink's hot dog one day and a gyro another day to try some of the food. That way we saved money, but got to try a couple different tents.

Re: Coachella 2012 - The Essential Guide To Car Camping

Great post!

I'll echo the food thing - simple and cool is the way to go, and prep as much as you can before you go.

Here's a couple more small tips that worked for me:

Get one of those magnetic keyholders that you can hide a key in, so you can lock your vehicle and leave the key with it. The you don't have to worry about losing your keys - plus the other people in your party can have access to the car if you get separated or they return to camp early.

Have a couple lights handy and keep em in the same place before you head out each night, so when you stumble back to camp in the dark, you can find your way to more beer.

Use two coolers - one for food and one for beers and mixers. In the food cooler, use frozen 2 liter bottles of water - keeps everything cool with out getting the food soggy, and you get cold water.

The night before the fest, throw a bag of ice in the beer cooler to precool it. Just before you head out, empty that ice, fill the cooler with beers/drinks and then put fresh ice on top (since cold sinks).

Carry the bare minimum of stuff in your wallet - ID, credit card and cash. The less you carry, the less you're bummin' if you lose it.

Embrace the scene! The music and art and people are awesome, but the camping vibe is just as sweet! Don't get too caught up in the logistics of it all and forget to have a great time!

Re: Coachella 2012 - The Essential Guide To Car Camping

Yeah use a cooler for a freezer that's being opened once in a while and cooler that's alwayss being open. Freeze waters, lemonade, food, pull them out in the morning, it will keep the cooler cold yet defrost. Had vodka lemonade ice slushies all weekend and it was great.

Re: Coachella 2012 - The Essential Guide To Car Camping

Has anyone ever tried an evaporative cooler before? Mister setups seem popular, and there is some discussion of hand-held coolers in the equipment deals thread. A full evaporative cooler like this one:

Re: Coachella 2012 - The Essential Guide To Car Camping

Originally Posted by FelonyFruitFlinger

Has anyone ever tried an evaporative cooler before? Mister setups seem popular, and there is some discussion of hand-held coolers in the equipment deals thread. A full evaporative cooler like this one:

Re: Coachella 2012 - The Essential Guide To Car Camping

I certainly wouldn't try putting it in my tent. It isn't small--I was thinking of putting it in a typical semi-enclosed canopy to provide a little relief during the morning heat. I may be bringing a deep-cycle battery and inverter anyways.

Re: Coachella 2012 - The Essential Guide To Car Camping

Originally Posted by FelonyFruitFlinger

I certainly wouldn't try putting it in my tent. It isn't small--I was thinking of putting it in a typical semi-enclosed canopy to provide a little relief during the morning heat. I may be bringing a deep-cycle battery and inverter anyways.

I would just go with a mister, you're running a risk of hauling it for no reason, and spending that time and effort. My girlfriend and I were FREEZING all weekend under the mister. With the winds of Indio unless you're in a enclosed place the wind will probably blow away any cold air you get, but I dunno if it's in those Geodesic domes they use at Burning Man, it may work, but if it's not completely enclosed I dunno how it would work.

Re: Coachella 2012 - The Essential Guide To Car Camping

Re: Coachella 2012 - The Essential Guide To Car Camping

We have always used a simple inverter to power lights/charge phones and it always works great and let's you have some nice lights other than those very bright spot lights they have on in the campgrounds (we used rope lights threaded underneath our canopy to light the night it works great). You don't need a 1000w inverter or anything just a simple 400w will do fine http://www.harborfreight.com/400-wat...ter-66814.html Run it off a deep cycle battery that costs $100 and can be recharged using this http://www.harborfreight.com/5-watt-...ger-41144.html which will put a slow float charge on it and keep it from running down. These batteries can last for 100's of recharge cycles if they aren't taken down too low so the cost is very low considering the advantages. Charges phones much faster than any charging station and gives you power for a lot of things without killing the car battery and having to run the engine constantly. Plus you make friends when they realize you have a charging station and some cool lights with good music playing at reasonable hours of course

"I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me-like food or water."
Ray Charles

Re: Coachella 2012 - The Essential Guide To Car Camping

Also as far as food goes I like to do most of what has already been mentioned but few things I like that aren't mentioned:

Pre-Cooked ribs - for those who want to have something really good for one day make some ribs and put them in vacuum seal bags and then just open them up and heat on the grill and add bbq sauce

Fruit - cut up any type of fruit and freeze it before the fest and then you can eat it all festival long (I think grapes were mentioned which are my favorite, blueberries good too but give you blue fingers

Veggies - Potatoes, onion and peppers for brats, etc also cut up before you leave to avoid trying to do it while you are under the influence of your drink/drug of choice

Finding your campsite: they have street names which helps but when trying to direct your friends to your camp site a flag or some sort of marker usually does wonders. I own a large red metal fat tire beer sign that we mark our camp with along with our ASU flag so people can always find us. And yes we do bring fat tire in cans

"I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me-like food or water."
Ray Charles